Reapers -- The First Familiar (Reapers Chronicles Book II)

23 - Link

Letting Alessandra’s soul on the loose wasn’t an option. Doing that would be as good as handing Pilgrim Reaper his ticket to the Realm of Immortals. And that would mean the end of the world of the Living.

“Vincent?” I murmured, giving his hand a squeeze. “W-what’s wrong?”

It took him a little more time to answer. “It’s just that… it feels like you’ve changed.”

“Changed?” I forced out a fake chuckle. “What? Come on. I’m still me.”

“Yeah… I guess,” he answered, sounding uncertain.

“People change,” I answered.

I could only hope that he didn’t see through my lies. It was pitch-black but I could feel it when his eyes studied me. Carefully, he untangled his fingers from mine. I felt them touch my face and brush my hair over my ear.

“It’s just that…” He hesitated, abruptly withdrawing his hand. “You’ve been through a hell lot of trouble just to get me out of that prison. Now, I’m dragging you again with me. And I don’t even have a single clue how we can save the others. This isn’t your fight, Aramis. You’ve done enough.”

“This is my fight too, Vincent,” I said firmly. “This has been my fight since you brought me back to life. So I risked my life for you once or twice. That’s what familiars do. It’s part of the job description.”

I heard him sigh. “That’s the problem, Aramis. I… I don’t want you to be my familiar.”

It was like being struck by lightning right between my eyes. I could choke out was “Oh… okay.”

“No. No. You don’t understand,” he tripped over his tongue, swearing under his breath as he did. “I meant—“

“It’s okay, Vincent,” I interjected, my words sounding empty. Inside, I didn’t feel anywhere near okay. “I get it. To be honest, I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately and I guess… crossing over to Nirvana isn’t such a bad deal. That way, your dad wouldn’t have a chance to take a hold of Alessandra’s soul.”

He tensed beside me, his hands frantically searching for mine. “Aramis, you got it all wrong. What I really mean is I don’t want you to be my familiar. I want you to—“

“Stop trying to be nice!” I snapped, cutting him off. I didn’t want to hear his reasons.

Swallowing the clog in my throat, I struggled to collect my bearing. With a sad smile, I caught both his hands and stopped them from fumbling about.

That was the third option—crossover. That way, we wouldn’t have to set Alessandra free and I wouldn’t have to be destroyed. I just had to spend the rest of my life… or death in Nirvana. It was a win-win situation. Sort of. I just hoped my soul still wasn’t tainted to such a point that Nirvana would annihilate me.

All of me wanted to hope that he had thought of another way—a fourth option. One where I would get to stay with him—I mean, the whole cabal.  But that was just wishful thinking.

“Damn it. Can you just please listen to me?!” He was getting angry again. The usual.

I shook my head. “We made a deal, right? If you still think I’m not fit to be your familiar, I’ll crossover without a fight. That’s what I said and I still go by my word.”

As he began to say something, a sliver of vertical light appeared in the middle of the dark. It grew blindingly bright all of a sudden, engulfing the two of us.

Mechanically, I covered my eyes. The pit of my stomach dropped and I felt myself falling. My back hit something hard and rough. A throbbing pain shot from the back of my head. When I opened my eyes, dark patches obscured my vision. I lay there, trying to feel my legs and my arms by moving them. It appeared like I didn’t break anything. Or maybe I did but it just healed spontaneously without me noticing. I never could tell these days.